Now Playing

1/7/2014 9:36AM

Capital Journal: U.S. Needs a New Mideast Role

It's becoming increasingly clear the Arab Spring didn't merely shake up the power structure of the Middle East: It launched a total transformation of the region—one that has reduced American influence. Jerry Seib discusses. Photo: AP.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... he starts ringing deadly shake up the supply ... structure the Middle East it also is causing some problems for the US ... this is Jerry slide is written about this and he joins us from Washington to explain Jerry thank you for being on this frigid morning ... thank you Simon ... so the lot of changes minimum in the Middle East we we saw in the Arab Spring aam some people are now cooling of the of ... the Arab winds that things didn't quite go according to what was predicted ... but you say causes some big problems for the US can you explain ... well look I think the the the shock waves are bigger than I think any of the season that thought they would be with their spring get started in Egypt is turning into certain military authoritarian state but up Libya is can it be on anybody's control right now gripping most of portly the Syrian civil war ... is starting to seek out the on Syria's borders and setting off Sunni Shiite ... battles in Levanon ... on one side of Syria and Iraq on the other side and a rack of the seas hugely problematic for us because a lot of time treasure and blood of from the US was spent in Iraq trying to get it right ... ten years worth and now it looks is if there's some danger of its fracturing along Sunni Shiite lines of credit is moving and ... and so essentially the Arab world is kind of sinking in ... the water the issues that the U S for us to think is that it's not clear that Americans care at as much as they use to obviously we produce more of our own energy now ... then we use to ... this war wariness after a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan ... aam and head of the sense that we can pool in our forums ... I'm the player making the column is I think that's a mistake and shortsighted that the additional enormous amount of interest ... in that region from the U S pork in it ... this is the growing influence of it around in the region had gone also ... said the and and a swell of this of this all aid to states that none of them out I think that's very interesting in itself cumulative point Dow ... annual supply mapping the tensions that what you know is that it's a mistake that um America is not going to be involved in the Middle East though and none of them would seem to be a big change from what has been the last ... sixty years all ... of a wave going on ... what you know it's a good point because for fifty years the least maybe sixty as you suggest ... he was simply assume that the Middle East was at the center of America's foreign policy address the most to Dallas because of oil ... I was that was the question will now people are wondering why do we care ... so much any longer and I you know as they said that they're still world economy that's enormously depending on Middle Eastern oil for stability even if the US is as much ... as it use to be ... out of the growth of the the uh kind of movements in in various places around the region suggests that the threat of Islamic extremism ... is still very real maybe even growing in the long run ... and there's also they had an X Factor which is that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon ... this may be decided by the term actually de stabilizing nuclear arms race over the next ten or twenty years so ... there are serious long-term issues there and the U S remains the power they can still step in and kind of stabilizing to lease the little bit ... though you have to admit that the American ability to do that may be exaggerated over time anyway ... probably has reduced some now but that's not a reason to just let it go not about sharing one thing I learned physics of was that metropolis of vacuum I think the sign is true in jail politics if the US is that that's a power vacuum ... the question then is who moves and and yet he's in Russia it is in China ... who goes to the bayonets of the anatomy my home country bread ... know is is the place and I think the answer to that question is can it take the shape ... slowly before our eyes which is to say you have won the one side ... the Saudis of funding lots of Sunni groups around the region of some of them not so savory ... while the Iranians are men support Shiite groups around the region is so what are the dangers here is that the whole place served evolves into kind of the Sunni Shiite proxy war between Saudi Arabia on the one hand ... in Iran on the other hand that's what the vacuum might be filled by and ... that's not a really good formula for anybody think of no it isn't so ... will be on that note thank you Brian much Jerry Sithe Wall Street gentle ... and oxygen everybody doesn't read my column on the vs day don't come